[Secrets] How to Increase CTR (Click Through Rate) [2024]

Your website pages are already on the first page of Google search results for various keywords.

However, your website has not yet reached the expected amount of traffic. This is a sign if your website has a weak CTR. Then, how to increase the organic CTR of your website?

Your website page impression number is already high, but the click-through rate (CTR) is still low.

You also start to wonder, what is wrong with the SEO optimization that you have implemented.

Before investigating what’s wrong with your SEO techniques, it’s a good idea to understand what click-through rate (CTR) and impressions are and how to increase CTR first.

What is CTR?

Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the ratio of the number of clicks to the number of impressions.

Usually, clicks are sourced from organic search results. While the impression is the number of appearances of your website page in Google search results.

How to Calculate CTR

For example, your website page impressions for the keyword “how to create a blog” are 1000 and the number of clicks you get is 100. Then your CTR number is 10 percent. Below is the formula for calculating CTR.

Getting a high organic click-through rate (CTR) number is important for all website or blog owners. Because organic CTR dominates click revenue in Google search results.

According to WordStream research, 62.20 percent of clicks in Google search results on desktop come from organic CTR. On mobile devices, organic CTR also dominates the number of clicks by 40.90 percent.

In addition, a high organic CTR also gives a good signal to Google. Google assesses website pages with high organic CTR as relevant and solution pages for searchers.

The problem is that getting high organic CTR numbers is not easy, considering that everyone wants it.

Even when your website page appears on the first page of Google search results, it does not guarantee a high organic CTR number.

Getting a high organic CTR is hard, but not impossible if you know-how. There are many ways to increase CTR that you can practice right away. Below I will explain about five effective ways to increase your organic CTR.

How to Increase CTR?

As I mentioned earlier, appearing on the first page of Google search results alone does not guarantee a high organic CTR.

You need to aim for at least first to the third rank in Google search results.

The first, second, and third rankings of Google search results dominate organic CTR with figures of 20.5 percent, 13.32 percent, and 13.14 percent (respectively).

Here are five effective ways to increase your website’s organic CTR:

1. Understand Your Audience

The first and most common mistake website or blog owners make is not understanding the audience they are trying to reach.

Often the author determines the topic to be written based on subjective judgment alone, without considering what the reader wants.

This is where it is important to do keyword research before creating content. Creating content without keyword research can result in one of two things. First, no one is looking for the topic you wrote on Google.

For example, say you want to write about “how to build a computer”, but it turns out that very few or no people are searching for that keyword on Google.

Should you write content with those keywords? If you expect high organic CTR, it is certainly recommended to write another topic.

The second consequence of writing content without doing keyword research is that what you write does not match the intent or search intent of the searchers.

Search intent is what most searchers want for a particular keyword. One keyword can mean two or more different things.

For example, when you enter the keyword “keyboard”, the top page in Google search results is keyboards for computers, not keyboards.

This can happen because most Google users search for the keyword “keyboard” intending to find a keyboard for a computer, not a keyboard musical instrument.

So Google prioritizes web pages that match the search intent of the majority of users.

2. Improve the Quality of Titles and Meta Descriptions

When Google users perform a search, they only need a few seconds to determine which web page to visit. This means you have very little time to grab the attention of Google users.

Based on Copyblogger’s research, only 20 percent of people read the title of the article and read the content, while the remaining 80 percent only read the title without reading it at all.

The findings above show how important a title is for an article. Moreover, Google search results only display the title of the content and a brief summary of the website page (meta description).

So you must be able to attract the attention of potential readers through the article title and meta description.

One of the effective tricks to make your title catchy is to add numbers to the title. As the title of this article suggests, Increase Organic CTR with These 5 Ways or 15+ Examples of Inspiring Personal Blogs and Websites.

People will be more interested in articles with a listicle model because they know how many important points will be gained from an article.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, blog article titles that use numbers result in 45 percent better organic CTR performance than those without numbers.

Not only using numbers, but interesting blog article titles must also meet several criteria.

In addition to the title of the article, you also need to pay great attention to the meta description.

A meta description is a short text that describes your content in search results. This text is located just below the article title and URL.

The ideal length of the meta description is a maximum of 130 characters. With more than 130 characters, Google will automatically truncate your meta description.

You can change the meta description using the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast SEO will warn you if your meta description exceeds the required capacity.

3. Take advantage of Structured Markup

When doing a search on Google, you may have come across search results like the one below. In addition to the title, URL, and meta description, this website page also displays ratings.

The rating above is a form of structured markup. Structured markup, also known as schema markup, is code that you can add to your content to improve the quality of search results.

Structured markup code can display ratings, event times, review stars, and product prices.

You can easily add structured markup using a plugin. Some structured markup plugins that you can use are Schema Pro, WP Review, WP Product Review, and All In One Schema Rich Snippet.

4. Get Featured Snippets

You must have also come across search results like the one below:

This is the best way to increase CTR. The image above is an example of featured snippets. Featured snippets are a search result feature from Google that displays short answers to keywords entered by searchers.

The content of the featured snippet is taken from a summary of the website pages that Google thinks are the most solution and match what searchers want.

In many cases, Google takes featured snippets of first-ranked content. However, it is possible that the featured snippet can be taken from the rankings below it if the content is indeed more solution than the first ranked content.

By getting featured snippets, you can bring in more organic CTR. According to Ahrefs research, 8.6 percent of organic CTR on the first page is taken up by content with featured snippets.

Unfortunately, featured snippets are not a feature that you can set yourself up for. There is no plugin or code that can add featured snippets for you.

Google will decide unilaterally which content is eligible for featured snippets.

Even so, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a strategy for getting featured snippets. Here are some tips to get your content featured snippets:

First, check the keywords you want to target. Try searching for that keyword on Google and see if any content gets featured snippets for that keyword. If so, the chances of getting featured snippets are greater.

Second, answer the searcher’s question clearly in your content. For example, one of Niagahoster’s articles discusses the meaning of plugins.

In the content, I clearly explain what the definition of a plugin is and its function so that you can get featured snippets.

Third, maximize the use of headings (H1, H2, H3, and H4) in your content. Make sure your H2 contains the focus keywords you are targeting.

Fourth, create a structured content flow so that Google can understand your content easily.

Fifth, make the content as detailed as possible. Content that is more detailed and complete has a greater chance of getting featured snippets.

5. Don’t Disappoint Your Readers

Low-quality content will never get a high position in Google search results. Because quality content will only disappoint readers.

Readers will find it difficult or even impossible to find answers in low-quality content.

If they are not satisfied with your content, readers will leave your website immediately, which will increase the bounce rate.

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave the website immediately after opening only one page ( Google Analytics ).

A high bounce rate indicates the quality of the content on the page is too poor so visitors are not interested in exploring other content.

The higher the bounce rate, the worse your website will rank on Google and will certainly affect your organic CTR.

Therefore, you must satisfy readers with quality content so that they feel comfortable reading, even reading other content on your website or blog. Here are some tips for creating engaging content for readers:

• First, divide your article into short paragraphs. Paragraphs that are too long will make readers tired quickly and find it difficult to find the main point of your article. It’s a good idea to make one paragraph no more than three sentences.
• Second, add visual media to make it easier for readers to understand your content. There are various kinds of visual media that you can use, from illustrations, photos, infographics, or videos.

Third, make sure your content answers the reader’s questions. People do searches on Google for answers.

If they don’t find the answer in your content, of course, they will switch to content from other websites that are more solution.

6. Content Monitoring

Everyone certainly hopes that their content will get organic CTR in one try. Ideally, it is like that.

However, in practice, of course, many situations and conditions are beyond expectations.

It could be that there is a new trend that requires you to update your content, a competitor is creating content that is much better than yours, a link in your content is broken, or an image in your content is wrong.

Anything can happen. Therefore, after publishing a piece of content, you need to do regular content monitoring.

Check for incomplete content, images not showing, broken links, and so on. Always make sure your content is at its best so it doesn’t ruin the reader’s experience.

By monitoring content regularly, you can find out which content needs improvement and which content has good enough organic CTR performance.

Conclusion

Increasing organic CTR is not an overnight process. It takes a long process, from keyword research to content monitoring, to get targeted organic CTR numbers.

If you’re new to publishing content and don’t immediately get a high organic CTR, don’t give up.

Evaluate and improve your content following the tips and tricks above. That way your content will be of better quality and the possibility of getting high organic CTR is greater.

Thus the discussion on how to increase CTR (Organic). Don’t forget to subscribe to the Niagahoster blog and don’t miss other interesting articles. Good luck!